Back to work.... I had to sneak the Pex lines to an area beneath the soon-to-be-enclosed stairway. We need hookups for a washing machine and a laundry tub. Since we have elected to enclose the entire stairway along with an entrance vestibule, the best and quickest route for the pex water lines was just beneath the row of steps. I protected the water lines with 3/4" EMT conduit, the ends carefully filed smooth to eliminate chafing.
Then, the final hookups of the pex and the re-configuration of the maze of drain and vent pipes. The laundry tub water and drain lines will be exposed and run along a 4' long section of the wall They will be installed after the drywall is completed.
One of the biggest pains was installing the line set for the central A/C. At first, I just assumed that we would hang it from the ceiling at the interior, but my HVAC pal told me to go ahead and bury it in the ceiling if I have the room...so, we did. It runs down the center of the I-joist cutouts that house most of the pex water lines.
There were 2 real tight turns as it transitioned into and out of the 2 x 6 exterior wall, so he lent me his tubing bender. I was doing so well when I got the first 90 degree bend done perfectly (3/4" copper tubing with a 6" radius bend...tough to do without collapsing the tubing), but I blew the 2nd bend and had to cut it off and braze on another length.
I tried to clean up the exit of the copper tubing and low voltage wires for the exterior A/C unit feed, so I ran them thru a 2" PVC nipple with a cap that was drilled out to allow passage of the tubing and the wires. It will be painted later. The 220V disconnect was also installed and wired back to the breaker panel.
We have been tracking the price of propane and it is pretty low right now. It's time to hook up the tank by installing the feed lines and regulators.
